Indiana Matt and the Isle of the Serpent
by Dareru
Summary: His father has been kidnapped searching for a powerful and mysterious lost relic. Can Matt find him before it's too late?
1. Prologue and Part 1

INDIANA MATT AND THE ISLAND OF THE SERPENT  
By Dareru (furidashi@hotmail.com)  
  
Disclaimer: Contains action, mystery, suspense, suspenders, yaoi, airplane chases, gunfighting, bad language, and plenty of other stuff too numerous to mention in this disclaimer.  
  
Disclaimer #2: Digimon and all characters are property of Toei, Bandai, and Saban. Indiana Matt is the intellectual property of Koani (koani@larekas.freeserve.co.uk) and Claire Ishida (ffenics@hotmail.com). He and his ladyfriend are borrowed with permission.   
  
Disclaimer #3: I'm not well versed in the pantheon of gods of ancient cultures, so cut me a little slack, please? I'd welcome any corrections, but I plead ignorance as my defense for any religion-related errors.  
  
~~~  
  
PROLOGUE  
  
Panama, 1913  
  
A lone bead of sweat trickled down Matt Ishida's face. This was it. If he made the wrong move, it would be over. He searched wildly for an opening, but couldn't find one. He was about to give up and surrender when it hit him...  
  
"Checkmate."  
  
Masaharu Ishida looked down at the chessboard and frowned. "So it is." Then he looked at his son. "That's the third time today you beat me! You should get someone else to play with you, you know. Like that other boy, what's-his-name, Dr. Kamiya's kid. I think I'm getting to old for this sort of thing."  
  
Matt beamed up at his father as his hair was ruffled.   
  
"Dr. Ishida? The excavation of the tablet is almost complete."  
  
Masaharu got up and walked out of his tent into the hot, moist jungle air. He swatted at a few mosquitoes as he and Dr. Kamiya talked shop. Matt watched his father for a few moments when a blue and brown blur streaked out of nowhere and attached itself to Dr. Kamiya's leg. He looked down - it was his son. He spoke with him for a moment, but the conversation didn't reach Matt's ears. Then, the elder Kamiya indicated the Ishida's tent, and the boy wandered towards it. He pushed aside the mosquito net, accidentally getting some of the large nest of hair on his head caught in it. Matt laughed and helped him out. In response, the other boy smiled back.  
  
"Thanks. My name's Tai."  
  
"I'm Matt," said Matt. "Pleased to meet ya, Tai." He sighed. "Not much to do around here, though."  
  
"Mmm, yeah," agreed Tai. Then his eyes glittered for a second, and he walked over to Matt.  
  
"What's up?" said Matt quizzically.  
  
Tai responded by tagging Matt in the shoulder and running out of the tent as fast as he could.  
  
"Hey! Come back!" shouted Matt, and, laughing, he raced after Tai.  
  
To Matt's surprise, Tai's agglomeration of hair proved not to be a hindrance at all. In fact, Matt had a hard time keeping up with his friend as they crashed through trees, tents, and vegetation. After a while, they came upon a series of caves on the edge of the dig site, and Tai ducked into one.  
  
Matt paused for a breather, then realized that he'd forgotten which cave Tai ducked into. He frowned...each one looked exactly alike.  
  
"Tai?"  
  
No response.  
  
"TAI!!?"  
  
Matt closed his eyes, randomly picked a cave, and ran into it.  
  
A few minutes later, he ran out of it, picked another, and ran into it.  
  
A few more minutes went by, then Matt ran out of that cave and finally went into the right one, and he found Tai hiding behind a rock, giggling.  
  
"Gotcha!" said Matt, hauling Tai to his feet. They both grinned at each other, and Matt was about to say something when they heard voices at the cave entrance. They ducked behind their hiding place, listening.  
  
"So it's in this one, is it?" said a gruff voice.  
  
"Yes, at the end of the cave," replied a second, with a decidedly British accent.  
  
"Well, let's get it, then!"  
  
Two men, one a tall, thin man wearing a fedora, another a short, squat, slightly overweight man in a business suit, walked past the boulder behind which the two boys hid behind. They watched the two men go past a bend in the tunnel, beyond their view. They heard sounds of digging, an anguished hiss, and then a squeal of pain.  
  
"Ouch! It bit me!" shouted the British voice.  
  
"Serves you right, digging in its nest like that," responded the gruff man.  
  
"Is it poisonous?"  
  
"Well, if you keel over in a few days we'll know the answer, won't we?"  
  
"That's not very funny."  
  
"It's not supposed to be. Now keep digging."  
  
For a few minutes the boys could hear the labored grunts of the two men as they dug for whatever they were seeking. Feeling brave, Matt grabbed Tai by the hand and crept up to the bend in the wall, both of them peeking out so they could see the backs of the men.  
  
"Aha! I found something!" said the overweight fellow, who was the owner of the British voice. He fell to his knees and began tearing at the ground with his hands.  
  
"Good, dig it up properly. Is it the Buddha?" The other man could barely conceal the excitement in his voice.  
  
The Englishman held up a small, perfectly formed golden figurine of Buddha that glimmered in the faint light from the cave. The tall man smiled.  
  
"Excellent. Congratulations, Dr. Morris, we've found it. Or, should I say...I have found it." He pulled a gun out from the recesses of his coat. Dr. Morris gasped. "Give me the Buddha."  
  
"But...we had a deal!"  
  
"Fair enough, then. The deal is now null and void," the tall man said, pulling the hammer of the gun back. It clicked ominously. "Now hand over the Buddha."  
  
Dr. Morris stood up slowly to give the Buddha to the tall man when he stumbled and fell. The Buddha rolled away, coming to a stop right in front of Matt. The eyes of the two men followed the figurine's path and, as it stopped, looked right into a pair of very frightened blue eyes. Then, without thinking, Matt picked it up.  
  
"Run for it, Tai!"  
  
The tall man in the fedora snarled. "Stop right there!" He fired a shot from his gun that ricocheted harmlessly off of the cave's rock. "They've got the Buddha!" Both men took off running at full tilt after the two boys.  
  
Again Matt and Tai ran through the undergrowth, but this time they were running for their lives. They narrowly avoided a low branch that caught the Englishman full in the face, and he fell groaning to the ground. But the tall man in the fedora matched the two boys stride for stride, and soon he was close enough to hear their labored breathing. Just as they were about to be overtaken, the two boys ran into a forest ranger.  
  
"Excuse me, boys, what can I do for you?" said the officer.  
  
"That man found this in the cave over there! It's a golden Buddha and it belongs in a museum," managed Matt between gasps. He placed the Buddha figurine in the ranger's hands.   
  
The man in the fedora slowed to a halt in front of the three, but Matt and Tai missed the wink that passed between the ranger and the man. To the two boys' surprise the ranger handed the small figure to him.  
  
"Well, I think that if it belongs in a museum this man should be the one to deliver it," the ranger said.  
  
"But...but..."  
  
"No buts, now, young man. You just run along with your friend and play nice, okay?" And with that the ranger strode off to other parts of the forest.  
  
The tall man laughed. "You almost got away with it, kid. What's your name?"  
  
"My name's Matt Ishida, and this is my friend Tai Kamiya."  
  
The man removed his fedora and set it on Matt's head. The hat was too big for him but he wore it as best he could, his eyes barely peeking out from under the brim. "Better luck next time, Matt," said the man, giving him a wink before walking off.  
  
~~~  
  



	2. Part 2

PART 2  
  
CHAPTER 3  
  
"Hey."  
  
"Hey." Matt tried to blink away the sleepiness from his eyes as Tai walked over to him and sat on his desk.  
  
"It's 2 AM. What are you doing up?"  
  
Matt smiled tiredly and held up the diary. "I might ask you the same thing."  
  
"I found those sea maps you wanted," said Tai, indicating the three rolled-up sheets of paper he had under his arm. He picked one and unrolled it.  
  
Matt looked at the map, then the diary, then back at the map, then back at the diary, then at Tai.  
  
"Tai?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"I can't do this much longer. I'm going to go to bed. You need a ride home?"  
  
"Er...if you don't mind."  
  
"Great. Let's go." Matt flicked off the light and walked out, absentmindedly putting his beat-up leather coat on over his tweed jacket. He was about to shut the door when he remembered that he had left the diary on his desk. "Almost forgot this," he said, pocketing the small book.  
  
A pair of green eyes followed the two men out, their owner hidden in the darkened university halls. He cursed under his breath, noting with displeasure the small book tucked safely into Matt's jacket pocket.  
  
Nevertheless, he crept over to Matt's office, pulling out a lockpick, and in seconds gained entry into the office. Quickly he deposited the contents of the small satchel he was wearing into the top drawer of Matt's desk. The wriggling mass gave an angry hiss as the drawer closed.  
  
"I do hope this will get the point across to you, Dr. Ishida."  
  
The man padded out of the office, taking great care to relock the door, before stealing out of the building, right past the sleeping guard.  
  
***  
  
"Morning, Tai."  
  
Tai smiled and walked over to Matt's waiting Duesenberg sedan. The sleek black car was one that no simple college archeology professor could afford - of course, Indiana Matt Ishida was hardly a simple college archeology professor, mused Tai as he and his high heels clicked into the passenger's seat.   
  
"So, what's on the agenda for today?" asked Tai.  
  
"Well...actually, more of the same as yesterday. Study the diary and maps." Matt grinned. "I bribed Koushiro into teaching my class for the next two months."  
  
Tai chuckled. "I bet he was thrilled."  
  
"Let's just say the prospect of all of my unused sick days was just too tempting."  
  
Matt eased the sedan out into the busy streets of Tokyo, and within a few minutes they were at the University.   
  
"I think that tomorrow we'll go down to Dad's base camp and have a look around to see if we can find any clues. Then we can start to pinpoint the location of this island." Matt walked around to Tai's side and opened the door for him, continuing to talk. "I'm hoping by this time we have at least some clue as to who would have captured him."  
  
"What if we don't?" asked Tai.  
  
"Then we start looking for the Staff, and get kidnapped ourselves."  
  
"Something tells me that that plan's not going to be very good for my health."  
  
Matt winked as he unlocked the door to his office. "Come on, now, where's your sense of adventure?"  
  
"I think I left it in the car, along with my purse," said Tai. "I'll be right back."   
  
Matt watched Tai go, then sat at his desk and took out his father's diary, thumbing through it. He opened the top drawer of his desk and picked out a pencil, underlining a passage that he had marked the night before. While doing so, the pencil tip broke, and Matt glared at it, slamming shut his desk drawer rather irritably.  
  
"Stupid university...can't afford pencils that work properly." He was going to get another one when Tai walked in. "Find it?"  
  
"Yeah," he said. He then cocked his head to one side. "What's that?"  
  
"What's what?"  
  
"Listen."  
  
They could both hear a faint hissing sound and an ominous rattle coming from somewhere in the room.  
  
"Bet it's the heater," offered Matt.  
  
"Bet you're right. Let's get to work, then."  
  
"Okay, let me just get a new pencil."  
  
Matt opened the drawer, stuck his hand in it, and recoiled instantly as he felt something that was decidedly alive in there. In an instant he leaped out of his chair and backed up against the wall, his eyes widened in fear.  
  
Slithering onto his desk was a two-foot long rattlesnake. That alone was enough to make Matt shrink back from it; the fact that it was a species known for its potent venom made matters even worse.  
  
"Tai!" whispered Matt urgently, as if raising his voice would make it attack him. Tai looked at the snake and took a cautious step back from the desk.  
  
"How did that get in here?"  
  
"More importantly," said Matt, blanching, "how are we going to get it out?"  
  
Tai thought for a moment...  
  
"Matt, listen. Snakes use their sense of smell more than anything, right?"  
  
Matt shuddered. "Whatever you say."  
  
"So," said Tai, producing a small vial of perfume from his purse, "I spray it in the face with this, it can't sense us by smell anymore, and we can sneak up behind it and bag it."  
  
"We? You mean, I have to get near it? I hate snakes!"  
  
"Just this once. It can't hurt you...just kind of tip it into the wastebasket or something! Ready...on three...one...two...three!"  
  
Tai gave the creature a quick blast of fine French perfume and dodged out of range before the enraged snake could get off a bite. Matt edged forward and half-heartedly batted the snake towards the garbage can, but instead it flew off the desk and slithered out into the hall.  
  
Matt shuddered involuntarily and closed his eyes, trying to shake the image from his mind. "I bet I'm going to regret that later." He grimaced as he heard screams from down the hallway.  
  
"At least it's out of here," mused Tai philosophically. Matt nodded in agreement and they set back to their task.  
  
***  
  
Two days went by before Matt and Tai finished their study of the little book. They, like Masaharu, had come to the conclusion that the location of the Staff of the Feathered Serpent was on an island somewhere off the Brazilian coast.  
  
~~~  
  
CHAPTER 4  
  
Airport, Rio de Janiero, Brazil  
  
The tropical air assaulted them the moment they stepped out onto the gangway. It was hot, moist, and almost thick enough you could cut it with a knife. Tai's hair wilted almost immediately, the moisture drawn to it and hanging on, much like tiny fangirls. He frowned and put on his ancient pair of goggles to at least keep it out of his face.  
  
"Feels like someone's been ironing," he commented.  
  
Inside the airport wasn't much better. The atmosphere was aggravated by the customs agents who insisted on searching every piece of luggage carried by Matt and Tai, almost confiscating Matt's dangerous-looking machete until a long and heated argument with the professor and his ladyfriend convinced them otherwise.   
  
After several failed attempts to hail a cab outside the airport, Matt and Tai decided to walk the half-mile to the bus depot, where they found that they had just missed the bus to the Japanese embassy. They sat and waited for an hour before the next bus left, Tai catnapping on Matt's shoulder.  
  
"Now boarding bus 23 to downtown Rio, the embassy, the dockside, and the airport," said the loudspeaker voice (in Portuguese, of course), and Matt nudged Tai gently into wakefulness.  
  
"Come on, sleepyhead, we're leaving."  
  
***  
  
A short while later they were met at the embassy by a small, dark-haired man with jade green eyes that were constantly shifting. He greeted them with a peculiar accent, almost a dry, sibilant rasp.  
  
"Hello, gentlemen. I trust you are the famed Dr. Ishida," he bowed. He then took Tai's hand and kissed it, "and you must be his lovely secretary." Tai blushed and curtsied, and Matt smiled. "My name is Iori Hida," the man continued, "and I am an attaché to the ambassador. I have been directed to extend the greetings of the ambassador and to aid you in whatever way necessary to find your father."  
  
"Thank you very much, Mr. Hida," said Matt. "I think we'll be relaxing for a day before we do anything interesting. Would it be possible to have a boat prepared for us tomorrow?"  
  
"Very well," fawned Iori, "I'll take care of the matter personally." He disappeared rapidly, retreating into the palace-like embassy. Matt and Tai deposited their luggage in their rooms and then wandered around the expansive site for an hour or two before tiredness got the better of them.  
  
Fortunately for them, the embassy's rooms came equipped with large bathtubs, and the pair of them decided to take a bubble bath together and discuss their plan for the next day.   
  
Tai sunk neck-deep in the suds, letting out a deep sigh as he wafted a dollop of bubbles in Matt's direction.   
  
"So," he purred, "what's the boat for?"  
  
"Tomorrow we go to Dad's base camp," replied Matt. "He had the location written down in his diary. I hope that we'll be able to find at least some clue as to where he is."  
  
"And if we don't?"  
  
Matt pondered, playing with a small mountain of foam. "Then...we get ourselves kidnapped."  
  
Tai sat up. "How do we do that?"  
  
"We do what Dad was doing - look for the Staff of the Feathered Serpent."  
  
Tai frowned and dunked his head underwater. "And I thought getting held up by six armed men was bad enough. Remind me why I stick around you?"  
  
Matt smiled, slid over and began working a handful of shampoo into Tai's glut of hair, massaging the chestnut brown strands gently. "Maybe later. Right now, just relax, and I'll take care of losing sleep tonight."  
  
Tai sighed pleasurably and leaned back against Matt. "Whatever you say. You're the doctor, after all."  
  
***  
  
At the same time, two people were meeting at the embassy's gates - one, the man, short and shifty, the woman, tall and thin, who radiated a sense of unnatural patience around her.  
  
"Dr. Ishida is here, but he keeps the diary on his person at all times. They wish to have a boat ready for them tomorrow to help them in their search for the staff," rasped the man.  
  
"Then we will let them go," replied the other. "Allow them to find the island. Allow them to find the former location of the Staff. Perhaps then they will be...suitably convinced that it would be wise to abandon their search for the staff."  
  
"And what of Masaharu?"  
  
"He will make a valuable addition to the brotherhood, once properly 'converted.'"  
  
The man bowed. "As you wish."  
  
"Do not fail, Iori. The Staff must be protected until the Feathered Serpent is ready to be released."  
  
"As you wish."  
  
"Go now, and remember your duty."  
  
And with that, the tall woman was gone, vanished into the dank night air like a snake.  
  
~~~  



	3. Part 3

PART 3  
  
CHAPTER 5  
  
"Nice day for sailing."  
  
Matt grinned and donned his trademark fedora against the torrential downpour that threatened to drown downtown Rio. The hurricane season had just begun the week before, and already the first big storm of the year was upon the South Atlantic. He put an arm around Tai and together they ran out of the embassy and into the conspicuous bright yellow taxi that was waiting for them, courtesy the ever-helpful Mr. Hida.  
  
In a few minutes they were at the very pier that harbored their marine transportation - a small, run-down fishing trawler that had undoubtedly seen better days, but the words San Cristobal were still painted visibly on its hull. Still, a ride is a ride, and as it was free, Matt wasn't about to complain.  
  
Matt, Tai and Iori dashed into the cabin of the ship where they met face to face with the captain - a short, stocky, gruff fellow, missing a leg, who clapped Matt and Iori on the back, and took Tai's hand and kissed it. After a round of introductions, the captain, whose name was Bartolomeo, told the group of their route in his thickly accented, broken manner.  
  
"We go here first," he said, indicating Masaharu's base camp on the sea charts, "take on supplies for a few days, and then begin...how you say...search?...for your island. If weather good and seas not rough, we cover whole area, three days."  
  
"What if it's worse?" inquired Matt.  
  
Bartolomeo shrugged. "Then, it take longer. You want me to control weather, cost you ten times more."  
  
After stowing their gear, Bartolomeo took them on a quick tour of the ship, telling them of its long history as a fishing boat.  
  
"Then, one day, a great monster come out of the deep." Bartolomeo took his arms and spread them as wide as he could. "Ten, twenty times longer than the ship."  
  
This piqued Matt's curiosity. "A monster, you say? What did it look like?"  
  
Bartolomeo shook his head. "It was so horrible, ship's captain forget what it look like. It hit the boat..." He made a noise to that effect and smacked one arm against his other hand. "...and knock it over. Four people eaten alive...including captain's wife and sons. Captain lucky, though - it only take his leg."  
  
The small fellow stared at the ground, and for a moment all the company could hear was the creaking of the timbers and the rain beating down on the deck of the ship. Then, Bartolomeo cheered up, with a barely visible but almost superhuman effort, and pasted a forced smile on his face.  
  
"But enough about vessel history. Come, we go now."  
  
True to his word, the ship was sailing out of port in less than five minutes, directly towards the heart of the storm.  
  
***  
  
It had been a rough few hours, but the boat had apparently weathered the hurricane. Except for a few leaks below decks and a piece of railing that had been torn off by the winds, the San Cristobal was still mostly intact, riding at anchor among the small sandbars that surrounded it.  
  
Beneath the small fishing boat, the water was blue and the seas were placid; above it, there was hardly a cloud in sight; the sun shone down on the thoroughly drenched crew, and the mood lightened noticeably.  
  
Tai walked to the front of the ship, spread his arms out and basked in the warm rays of the sun. His hair and clothes soon began to steam as the water evaporated. While he was busy steaming, though, he was completely unaware that Matt was creeping up behind him.  
  
"Ahh, this is certainly worth waiting for, eh, Matt? Matt?" Tai turned his head to look for the professor but it was too late - Matt grabbed Tai by the waist and neatly tossed him overboard.  
  
Tai's head broke the surface and he sputtered angrily. "What was that for?"  
  
Matt smiled infuriatingly and leaned on the railing. "You looked like you needed a bath...besides, the drowned rat look fits you pretty well."  
  
Tai shook his head in mock consternation and, grinning, dove underwater, only to surface right next to Matt's arm, which he promptly tugged on. The Professor temporarily lost his dignity and balance, and fell headlong into the water with a loud splash.  
  
From the cabin, Iori and Bartolomeo watched the two.  
  
"They should laugh while they can. They will soon find that the brotherhood is not something to trifle with, isn't that right, Bartolomeo?"  
  
The captain forced a smile, painfully aware of the knife Iori had pressed to his side.  
  
"Absolutely, sir."  
  
Iori smiled and stared ahead into the clear sky. "Good. Otherwise they may find themselves at the mercy of the great Feathered Serpent, not unlike some arrogant fishermen."  
  
***  
  
Fortunately for the San Cristobal, Masaharu's base camp was close by, because after they had tied the boat to the makeshift dock and taken shelter, the back half of the storm broke upon them.  
  
Wind and rain swept the tiny island, lashing the little group of huts mercilessly, but inside, everyone was fairly warm and, at the very least, not wet. The ranking person in the camp was Hikari Kamiya - Tai's younger sister - who was working on her archeology doctorate under Masaharu's careful eye. After the brief family reunion, including the exchanging of dress sizes, everyone got down to business.  
  
"Masaharu had finally found something," said Hikari. "He'd been going at it day and night, almost for three days until he collapsed from sheer exhaustion, and when we pulled him out and practically forced him to eat, the only thing he wanted to do was go back to his research." She produced a small piece of parchment, deteriorating with age but still largely readable - that is, if someone was fluent in ancient Aztec languages. "This is, as he called it, the final piece of the puzzle."  
  
Matt reverently took it in his hands. "Did he say what this is?"  
  
Hikari shook her head. "Nope. Remember, Dr. Ishida, we're here to study Aztec fishing methods, not look for some old relic. Masaharu only came to supervise us, not take part in the research." She looked directly at him. "Something tells me that you're going to do exactly what your father did." She sighed. "So I might as well tell you what happened to him."  
  
Everyone looked to her.  
  
"The day that you got the telegram, he had taken out our only boat before everyone was awake. He left this map and this note." She handed the two items to Matt, who studied them in a brooding silence. "And that's the last we've heard from him. Like he said in the note, if he wasn't back in 12 hours, to call for help, so we did."  
  
Matt sat back in his chair, hand on his chin. Tai took Matt's hand and gently spoke what was on everyone's mind.  
  
"Matt...if he was out, alone, with no food or supplies...he's gone by now."  
  
He nodded. "I know...but we can always look when it clears tomorrow. Right now, all we can do is wait for this damned storm to let up."  
  
***  
  
True to the forecast, the weather cleared up that night. As the stars shone brightly above the island base camp, Matt wandered out to the beach and sat, drawing up his legs. He looked up at the heavens, mentally picking out each constellation Masaharu had taught him, and wondered if he was still all right.  
  
"Wherever you are, old man, I'm coming for you. Just hang on."  
  
Matt sighed and stretched out in the sand, placing his fedora over his head, and was asleep in a few moments.  
  
~~~  
  
CHAPTER 6  
  
True to his word, Matt and company were ready to find Masaharu early the next morning, armed with map and diary, plus a small arsenal in case something unexpected happened - Matt's usual whip and revolver, a large machete, and Tai's personal favorite, a sleek black Tommy gun.  
  
"Let's roll, ladies and gentlemen."  
  
***  
  
Their final destination, according to Masaharu's map, was the remnants of an extinct volcano surrounded by a coral reef. The once-forbidding lava plug had been eroded by time and weather, and was now just a black stony hill, pockmarked with caves. On the other side of the reef was a small motorboat, red and white, with the Tokyo University logo on it.   
  
"That looks like Dad's boat!" exclaimed Matt. Instinctively, Bartolomeo piloted the San Cristobal towards it, and Matt and Tai leaped out of the boat and onto the island, followed by Iori and Bartolomeo.   
  
Matt got there first, and recognized the boot prints in the wet sand as Masaharu's. "They lead into the caves. Come on, this way!"  
  
The other three were hard pressed to catch up to Matt as he followed the tracks, but all four stopped short when they got to where the footprints ended.  
  
There were literally hundreds of caves in the side of the lava plug! And with Masaharu's footprints gone, they could spend days searching for the cave he went in...then a thought hit Matt.  
  
"Wait a minute...this looks familiar." He pondered for a moment, then snapped his fingers. "The diary!" Flipping through the pages he found the diagram that he sought. "The stone tablet in Panama - that one showed which cave to enter!" Each cave had been painstakingly marked and recorded, and now Matt found the one they wanted in short order, clambering up the rock formation's slope.   
  
Matt waited for his companions before going on, but at what looked like just another continuation of floor, he stopped short and got out his whip. Expertly he flicked the whip at the floor and it fell away - a cunningly disguised bed of reeds and vegetation, covered with a fine powder of volcanic ash and held up by a few flimsy strands of rope which were designed to lead a person to his or her demise, for below the fake floor was a pit that none of the four could see to the bottom of.  
  
Thinking quickly, Matt spied an overhanging ledge that could easily hold the weight of any one of them. He uncoiled his whip and lashed it to the ledge, tugging on it a few times, then offered it to Iori.  
  
"After you, Mr. Hida."  
  
The little man nervously gripped the lash, tugging on it just for good measure, and then, with arms and legs wrapped around it, swung across to the other side, landing on all fours. He laughed nervously and, brushing himself off, threw the whip back. Next to go was Tai; he sailed through the air gracefully and landed on the other side in one fluid motion. Bartolomeo was next. He closed his eyes and made a quick prayer, but his ungainly shuffle lacked the impetus to get him to the other side and he began to fall backwards. Matt made a run at the whip, jumping over the chasm and hitting the lash with enough force to carry him and the scared ship captain to the other side.   
  
"Well, that was fun, wasn't it?"  
  
"I rather scrape the hull of every boat in Rio harbor," muttered Bartolomeo darkly.  
  
Now the daylight was beginning to fade as they pressed deeper into the caves, so Matt lit a torch. He stopped for a moment as he felt a stone move under his feet, but began to walk again when all of a sudden, the hairs on the back of his neck tingled, as if a sixth sense was warning him, and he threw himself flat on the ground.  
  
"Get down!"  
  
As soon as he shouted, a volley of darts sliced through the air above them, where their waists were a moment ago, one of them cutting a neat furrow straight through Tai's hair.  
  
"Someone really doesn't want us in here, do they?" said Matt with a rueful grin, worry for his father temporarily pushed aside as his sense of adventure got warmed up. They picked themselves up off of the floor and cautiously walked onward.  
  
But after a while it became apparent that the only hazard that they faced was exhaustion, as the cave stretched on for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, they reached the end, and sitting the center of the cave was a grand altar, adorned with symbols and Nahuatl text, at the center a slot for a staff of some sort...but no staff was to be found.  
  
Matt felt a twinge of sadness and yet also excitement; surely, someone already found the Staff of the Feathered Serpent; and that someone, too, may have kidnapped Masaharu! He whirled around and looked at Tai.  
  
"Tai! Do you realize what this means? The Staff isn't here!" He laughed almost hysterically.  
  
"Matt? Are you all right?" asked Tai. "You...usually aren't this happy to find that someone's stolen an artifact..."  
  
Matt raced over to Tai and picked him up off of his feet. "Yeah yeah, but if the Staff isn't here that means someone's taken it already!" Noting the lack of comprehension on Tai's face, Matt clarified. "...and that means, that that someone probably kidnapped Masaharu!"  
  
*click*  
  
Matt set Tai carefully down as he realized that he was now staring down the barrel of a very dangerous-looking pistol, held in Iori Hida's hand.  
  
"Dr. Ishida, the Staff of the Feathered Serpent is in very safe hands. I do not suggest continuing this line of exploration. It could lead to...very unpleasant circumstances."  
  
"Iori...the Staff is a priceless artifact..."  
  
"The staff," said Iori, his grating voice taking on a sharp edge, "is in the hands of the Brotherhood of the Serpent." He opened his shirt to reveal a large serpent tattooed on his chest. "The second coming of Quetzalcoatl is upon us, Dr. Ishida. Now that the Brotherhood is in control of the Feathered Serpent, the end of the world is at hand. Your father nearly cost us the Staff, Dr. Ishida, and we have dealt with him accordingly. You are getting too close for comfort."  
  
"What have you done with my father?"  
  
Iori smiled thinly, humorlessly. "Your father is being held to watch the second coming. Sadly, you will not be able to join us. Goodbye, Dr. Ishida. I hope you like snakes."  
  
The little man pulled a lever and the floor around the altar collapsed, dropping Matt and Tai into a pit full of angry, rattling snakes.  
  
~~~  



	4. Part 4

PART 4  
  
CHAPTER 7  
  
The unlucky pair fell to the floor of the pit, snakes backing away from them for a brief moment before beginning to circle forward, angered at the intruders. Matt's mouth went dry with fear, and his eyes widened. Instinctively he latched on to Tai's arm and refused to move; he was paralyzed.  
  
"Matt!" yelled Tai over the hissing of the hundreds of serpents. "Matt! Snap out of it!"  
  
But there was no response.  
  
"You really know just when to drop out of things, don't ya?" he shouted, struggling upright and pulling Matt along with him. The snakes slithered closer, and Tai kicked at one of the more adventurous ones, sending it flying backwards into the writhing mass. "Come on!"   
  
Now time was running out, and Tai knew it. He turned to the Professor.  
  
"Sorry, Matt, but this is for your own good."  
  
He raised his hand and slapped Matt across the face with it, hard.   
  
"Oww! What the hell was that for?"  
  
"What the hell was that f...? We're lying in a pit of snakes, and your brain's AWOL! That's what the hell it was for!"  
  
"Isn't grabbing me and shaking me good enough?"  
  
Tai grabbed Matt around the shoulders and shook him. "All right, Matt, we're surrounded by a horde of snakes, and you're complaining that I hit you! Now shut up and do something!"  
  
Matt blinked and stared upwards at the sheer pit walls - no hope of climbing them...but wait...  
  
He uncoiled his trusty whip and swung it towards the altar, but it fell short.  
  
"Tai, I need to stand on you for a second!"  
  
Tai grunted and braced himself, helping Matt up onto his shoulders. Again Matt swung the whip at the altar, and this time it wrapped neatly around the stone. Matt stabbed the air with his fist and began to shimmy up the whip's plaited lash. He reached down to Tai and shouted over the hiss of the hundreds of snakes that pressed closer.  
  
"Grab on!"   
  
Tai made a panicked leap for Matt's hand and grabbed it at the same instant one of the rattlers decided to attack Tai's skirt. There was a ripping sound and the snake fell back to the pit, trying to dislodge the piece of cloth it had torn out of the dress. Matt pulled as hard as he could, and Tai shot out of the hole a moment later, landing on top of Matt in a heap. The pair lay on top of each other for a minute, breathing hard, before Tai rolled off of Matt. Another moment passed before either of them spoke.  
  
"Matt?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Don't ever pull a stunt like that again, OK?"  
  
Matt closed his eyes and shuddered at the thought of the slithering mass of snakes, then sighed. "I'm sorry."  
  
Tai stood up, a slow grin spreading across his face. "That's all right...now, are we going to get that bastard Hida and find your dad, or lie around here sulking all day?"  
  
***  
  
"Mr. Hida, you not just going to leave them?"  
  
Iori glanced back irritably at his unwelcome companion, Bartolomeo, as they emerged from the cave. "Of course I'm going to leave them. I was ordered to deal with them appropriately."  
  
"But..."  
  
Iori turned on the hapless sailor, gun in hand, his voice gaining a dangerous edge. "Do not question my decisions, or you will find yourself in that pit with them."  
  
The little man fell silent as they trudged across the sand.  
  
***  
  
"There they are!"  
  
Matt and Tai rappelled down the cliff face as fast as they could to try and catch up with their quarry. Iori, turning as he heard the shout, cursed loudly and began running towards the San Cristobal, Bartolomeo lagging behind.   
  
Matt was the first to land on the beach, and he realized right away that they wouldn't catch up in time. Then he remembered his dad's boat, beached on the opposite side of the island.  
  
"Come on!"   
  
He grabbed Tai by the wrist and they dashed for the boat. "You know how to drive one of these?" he asked.   
  
"No, but I figure I'll be a quick study."  
  
The engine on the tiny ship sputtered to life and they sailed away as fast as the old engine would allow, in hot pursuit of the beat-up fishing trawler.  
  
***  
  
After a half hour of chasing the San Cristobal, it was becoming painfully apparent that the gap between the two boats was staying the same. Matt still stood gamely at the front of the smaller ship, whip in hand, silently urging their little boat forward.  
  
"Matt, look."  
  
Matt followed Tai's outstretched arm. What had been a small dot on the horizon was now a large island looming ahead.   
  
"Here it is, on the map...Crosswinds Island."  
  
Actually, it was the remains of a volcano, long dormant and thought to be extinct. The volcano was barely above the water, and at the center of its crater was a pristine volcanic lake boasting an island just above the cooled lava dome.  
  
In the center of the island was a castle, visible even from the distance the small boat was at; it was constructed from blocks of pure, glassy, jet-black obsidian, each of which caught and scattered the sun's rays like mirrors. Each of the four towers were capped with a huge cone of gold, giving the castle an even more impressive look.   
  
"Impressive. How much do you think it cost?"  
  
"Enough to make my salary look like teacher's pay," said Matt. Then he thought about what he had just said. "Hey...wait a minute..."  
  
Just as they had suspected, soon the San Cristobal turned into the lake and pulled up alongside the dock on the castle. Tai turned the boat to do the same when what looked like a dorsal fin cut through the water straight for the small ship.  
  
"Sharks, you think?" asked Matt.  
  
Suddenly a huge, red-eyed, metallic head reared out of the water, followed by the upper portion of a snakelike body, and came down right in the middle of the boat, which instantly shattered into pieces.  
  
Both Tai and Matt were thrown into the water by the force of the blow, and for several seconds Matt was held underwater by a huge, serpentine body many times his size. His lungs were about ready to burst when finally the last of the coils passed overhead, and he surfaced, gasping.  
  
"Tai!" were the first words out of his mouth.  
  
But there was no sight of his companion. He searched the water for any sign of the huge monster that had destroyed their boat, then called again, but again no response. He struck out for the dock where the San Cristobal was berthed, watching suspiciously for the sea serpent and also for Tai. A moment before Matt reached the dock, he felt something bump up against his leg, and picked it up.  
  
He found himself staring at a pair of goggles, exactly like the ones that Tai wore; but one of the lenses were cracked and the headband was completely snapped in two. He suddenly felt dizzy and weak, and grabbed the dock to keep himself from passing out.   
  
"Well, Dr. Ishida, it seems that you have already become acquainted with our feathered serpent, correct? Come with me and I'll give you a grand tour of the last place you'll ever see. Not like you have a choice."  
  
Matt looked up through his eyes, already beginning to blur with tears, straight down the barrel of a Mauser pistol, being held by none other than Iori Hida. He let himself be hauled upright and was relieved of his whip by the shorter man, and together they walked forward into the castle.  
  
***  
  
In a few minutes Matt had been hauled into the keep. It, like the rest of the castle, was carved from pure obsidian. At the center of its main hall was a throne carved from jade and ivory. Already gathered in the room were several hundred men of varying heights and ages, all of them wearing dark green robes, and all of them bearing the tattoo of the Brotherhood of the Serpent on their chests; perched on the throne was a woman swathed in dark black robes, holding a jewel-encrusted, platinum staff in the form of a snake; it could only be the Staff of the Feathered Serpent.   
  
Matt opened his mouth to speak but was immediately struck by Iori.   
  
"Silence! Prisoners are not deemed worthy of speaking in the presence of the Matriarch."  
  
The woman pulled back her hood to reveal her face. Her dark brown eyes were cold and impassive, but held the hint of a serpentine glitter; her mouth was twisted into a thin-lipped, mirthless smile. She brushed her purple hair out of her eyes and spoke in a voice that Matt had to strain to hear.  
  
"Take him away. He will be a spectator for his father's 'conversion;' until then, move him to a holding cell. That is all."  
  
"As you wish," fawned Iori. "Come on, you." He dragged Matt by the collar of his jacket to the deepest recesses of the castle, where he was unceremoniously cast into the first cell they came across. He landed with a bump on what he thought was a sack of potatoes until it moved.  
  
"Hey...move your fat butt off of me," said a very familiar voice.  
  
"TAI!!!!!" Matt hugged Tai as hard as he possibly could.  
  
"Ouch...take it easy there...I'm glad to see you too, but I think I broke one of my legs when I was thrown from the boat."  
  
Matt wiped a tear of happiness from his eye. "What the hell happened to you?"  
  
"All I remember was falling overboard, then I woke up in here, and that bastard Hida was watching me to see when I woke up." Tai rolled out from under Matt. "Where are we?"  
  
"Inside the Brotherhood's castle," replied Matt. "I like the architecture, but surrounded by black is just kinda depressing. Now the question is, how do we get out of here?"  
  
Tai fished around in his hair for a moment, then extracted a hairpin. "I think the lock is just a simple one. See if this works."  
  
Matt walked over to the lock and turned the hairpin in a few times. It clicked and the door swung open, and Matt grinned.  
  
"Time for these birds to fly...wonder where they're keeping my dad?"  
  
Tai pointed to a cell down the hall. "I can hear someone's snoring coming from over there."  
  
"That's him, all right," grinned Matt, "the champion snorer in all of Tokyo.  
  
He went over to his injured companion and helped him up, and was about to walk out of the cell when he heard voices making quite a commotion. He quickly hurried back into the cell and quietly closed the door.  
  
"He's in this one. Take him up and prepare for the conversion. Have a guard ready to bring the other two up later."  
  
A robed guard walked up to their cell and stood in front of it, menacing them with a submachine gun. Matt waited for the other voices to recede before walking up to the cell door.   
  
"Hey," he said. No response.  
  
"You guys sure run a tight ship around here." Still nothing.  
  
"You have a name, or are you the strong silent type?" He peered at the guard.  
  
"Sure not very sociable, that's for sure. I have an idea. Let's play a game. We'll see who falls asleep first, you or me. Ready?"   
  
Suddenly Matt threw himself against the doorway; it flew open and hit the guard, sending him and his machine gun in opposite directions. The guard's head hit the stone wall and he slumped to the ground, unconscious. Matt helped Tai out of the cell and placed the guard in it, locking it behind them.  
  
"Well, looks like I win. Better luck next time, eh?"  
  
He picked up the guard's gun and they hobbled up the staircase, Matt vaguely trying to remember where he'd been dragged through. They visited the bed chambers, courtyard, larder, and finally the armory.  
  
Matt whistled appreciatively. "They have enough stuff in here to start world war three..." He went over to a peg on the wall and retrieved his bullwhip. "But this is good enough for me."  
  
"Speak for yourself," said Tai, grabbing a rifle from the walls.  
  
"Alright, let's go get Dad back." They peeked down the stairway into the main hall, where there bulk of the Brotherhood was standing, waiting for Masaharu to be paraded in. Matt and Tai snuck along the balcony above the floor, and from there they could see the adjoining rooms; one had a huge altar that was adorned with snake-like carvings, the other carried what looked like a well down to the lava dome of the volcano. Masaharu and a lone guard was in the altar room.  
  
"Let's go get him."  
  
~~~  
  
CHAPTER 8  
  
"Excuse me, but I'll give you a hand with that."   
  
*punch*  
  
The guard standing over Masaharu crumpled to the ground as Matt obligingly demonstrated his left jab. Masaharu looked up, eyes wild, wondering who his rescuer was, and how they got here. Matt undid his bindings as Tai watched the doorway.  
  
"Matt!"  
  
"Dad!"  
  
"Tai!"  
  
"Dr. Ishida!"  
  
The three exchanged hugs and were about to make a break for it when the door was thrown open and the Matriarch, her throne being carried by four of the brotherhood's ranks, was paraded in. Her eyes narrowed with rage and she extended a thin arm towards the three men.  
  
"Get them!"  
  
Thinking quickly, Matt threw Tai in a fireman's carry with one arm while casting his whip at the Staff of the Fallen Serpent; it looped around it and, with an expert flick, landed in Masaharu's surprised hands. Then the two of them charged headlong into the pack, knocking people over left and right, Tai flailing with arms and his good leg at anyone who got in range.  
  
They had just entered the room with the lava well and were about to make it out when a band of green-robed men surrounded them in a circle.  
  
"Damn! We almost made it, too."  
  
"So," said the Matriarch above the sounds of the bubbling lava, "you thought you could escape the Brotherhood once again. This time, I will not be so kind to you. Seize them!"  
  
"Not so fast," said Masaharu, brandishing the Staff of the Feathered Serpent. "One more move by any of your flunkies and I'll throw this into the well." Matt and Tai looked at him incredulously - the one artifact he had spent the better part of his life in search of, he was ready to cast away forever.  
  
"You wouldn't," sneered the Matriarch.  
  
Masaharu held the Staff over the lava pit. "You can have it back if we are allowed to go free."  
  
There was silence as the Matriarch weighed her options; Matt, Tai, and Masaharu failed to notice the look that passed between her and Iori. "Very well," she hissed. "Open a path to the dockside..."   
  
Then Iori launched himself at Masaharu, wrestling for control of the Staff. Tai reached behind him and pulled out his rifle, while Matt did the same with his submachine gun. "Nobody move, or your Matriarch will have more holes in her than McDonald's has hamburger buns!"  
  
All eyes were now on the two wrestling men, and just as it seemed that Masaharu would be overpowered, he skillfully executed a move that caught Iori off guard completely. He found himself suspended a hundred feet over a pit of boiling lava. The only thing keeping him from falling was his tenacious hold on the Staff, and even that was slipping rapidly.  
  
"Grab on to my hand," urged Masaharu.  
  
"Never," spat Iori.  
  
"You'll fall to your death!"   
  
Iori felt his conviction slipping along with his grasp, and a heartbeat before he let go of the Staff, he grabbed onto Masaharu's free hand. But now Masaharu's grip was slipping as well. Now he was forced to decide between the artifact that he had spent his life searching for or saving a life or saving the artifact that he had spent, and he chose the latter. The Staff went fluttering down and struck the lava pit with a splash while Masaharu hauled Iori over the edge of the pit.  
  
Suddenly the entire island began to shake as the lava in the well surged upwards. Matt, Tai and Masaharu figured that now was as good a time as any to make a break for it as everyone else milled around in confusion. Neatly dodging falling blocks of obsidian, they rushed out to the dock and jumped aboard the nearest available ship, which happened to be the San Cristobal.   
  
"Bartolomeo! Get us out of here!" shouted Matt, setting Tai down on the deck.  
  
The little captain scuttled around his ship in a panic, seeing if everything was in order while swearing at anything that wasn't in Portugese and English. Within moments the engine came to life, throwing up a huge cloud of oily black smoke, and the ship pulled away.   
  
Behind them, the four watched as the castle shuddered in its death throes and collapsed in upon itself as members of the Brotherhood clambered aboard boats, logs, anything that could float and sailed away as fast as they could. The island's shaking began to grow stronger, and then a huge fountain of molten lava sprayed up from the ground beneath the castle. The dormant volcano roared to life again, belching huge plumes of ash and spewing rivers of lava that hissed and steamed as they contacted the ocean. Matt adjusted his fedora and watched in silent awe, as did the others.   
  
"Imagine that...the Staff made the volcano active again." He was about to turn to his dad and make a comment when an alarmed shout came from Tai.  
  
"Look, below us!"  
  
The Feathered Serpent was back. Everyone watched in muted horror as the giant overtook them, gracefully speeding past their ship for several seconds. Then, without warning, it breached in front of the ship. For the first time, they saw the entire creature, from the snout to the feathered tail, and then it was gone, diving into the depths of the ocean, never to be seen again.  
  
Matt shuddered as he turned to his dad. "So, Dad, it took you almost twenty years, but you found the Staff...what's going to be your next conquest? The Holy Grail? The Golden Fleece?"  
  
Masaharu shook his head. "I'm going to go home, take a hot bath, and start looking into Mayan pottery. Much safer than valuable staffs, I hope."  
  
Matt grinned. "You're getting too old for the archeology business, I think."  
  
"Too old?! Why, I was spelunking through forbidden tombs while you were still in diapers!"  
  
All four of the crew melted into tired laughter as they sailed off for home.  
  
THE END   
  
  
  



End file.
